Meals For All - Pecan Tilapia and Summer Squash

The adult version of the meal

In a perfect world I only make one meal a night. It isn't usually a perfect world though. So when I come across recipes and meals that me and the hubby like and can be mashed up to a good consistency for the little one, I am all over it! Even better, this one is fish (an inexpensive fish, I might add!), uses olive oil instead of butter and my son LOVES it! 


I use a shortcut in this meal  - boxed Parmesan risotto (I use Lundberg Farms). You just can't make everything from scratch all the time! I just make sure that when I use boxed items that they are good quality and usually organic.


The first step in this meal is to get yourself a nice glass of wine. Cooking dinner is much more enjoyable when you do :)

The Summer Squash
6 - 8 summer squash of various types, cut in half and sliced

1/2 a medium onion, thinly sliced

2 tbls. olive oil

1 clove of garlic

1 tbls. butter

fresh ground salt and pepper 

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium low heat. Add the sliced squash, onion and garlic. stir to coat with oil, dot the top with the butter and cover. Cook covered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove cover and continue cooking 10 more minutes, turning the heat up if necessary. Add salt and pepper to taste.

 

Now start your risotto or rice and move on to the main dish...


The tilapia
3-4 tilapia fillets, washed and dried (look for any obvious bones, but in my experience tilapia does not have many)
3 tbls. olive oil

1/2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. very finely chopped pecans
1/2 c. garlic and herb dried breadcrumbs
1 tsp. salt
fresh ground pepper to taste
1/2 c. buttermilk
1/2 tsp. hot sauce (opt.)


Heat olive oil over medium in a large skillet. Get out 2 shallow bowls. Place flour in one of the bowls. Mix together the pecans, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper in one of the bowls. Whisk together the buttermilk and hot sauce in the last bowl. Take one piece of fish at a time and dredge in the flour, then coat in the buttermilk and finally roll the fish in the pecan mixture. Make sure each fish is good and covered, then place in the hot oil. Cook for 4 minutes on each side or until the fish flakes with a fork. Serve with lemon wedges.

For baby food - place squash, rice and a piece of fish into a food processor and puree to desired consistency, to add calories I usually add a bit more olive oil at this point to help with the puree - you could also use broth. I make sure to puree this one pretty good, just to make sure there are no large pecans left. The amounts in the menu are enough to make several meals worth for a baby - just place in ice cube trays and freeze the leftovers.

The baby food version of the meal